India’s education technology sector has undergone a remarkable transformation in 2026, emerging from the spectacular collapse of BYJU’S with a more mature, sustainable approach to digital education. The landscape today differs dramatically from the pandemic boom years when companies raised billions pursuing growth at any cost. With over twelve thousand active EdTech companies collectively having raised fourteen point three billion dollars, the sector experienced significant consolidation in 2025 with funding dropping seventy-eight percent compared to 2024.
This correction created space for genuinely innovative companies prioritizing learning outcomes, sustainable business models, and hybrid approaches that combine online convenience with offline effectiveness. The survivors demonstrate clear strategic focus, disciplined capital deployment, and increasing adoption of artificial intelligence to deliver personalized learning experiences that adapt to individual student needs and performance patterns.
1. Physics Wallah: The Affordable Education Pioneer
Physics Wallah achieved a historic milestone in November 2025 by becoming India’s first pure-play EdTech company to successfully launch an initial public offering, raising three thousand four hundred eighty crore rupees and achieving a valuation of approximately three point six billion dollars.
Founded in 2016 by Alakh Pandey as a YouTube channel teaching physics for competitive examinations and formalized as a comprehensive platform in 2020 with co-founder Prateek Maheshwari, the company serves over three point five million students through its unwavering commitment to affordability combined with quality instruction. While competitors charged tens of thousands of rupees for similar courses, Physics Wallah deliberately capped all pricing under five thousand rupees, making high-quality test preparation accessible to middle-class families unable to afford traditional coaching institutes.
The company achieved unicorn status in June 2022 following its first one hundred million dollar funding round, then secured an additional two hundred ten million dollars in September 2024 at a two point eight billion dollar valuation. Physics Wallah operates over sixty-seven offline centers under the Vidyapeeth brand, representing a hybrid approach combining online learning flexibility with offline study environments.
The company reported revenue of eight hundred forty-seven crore rupees in Q1 fiscal year 2026, representing thirty-three percent growth, though net losses widened due to aggressive offline expansion. The IPO proceeds will fund opening seventy centers annually over three years, technology upgrades, and extensive branding initiatives. The recent introduction of Alakh AI, an in-house artificial intelligence platform serving as a personal tutor, demonstrates Physics Wallah’s recognition that AI will increasingly differentiate successful EdTech companies through genuinely personalized learning experiences.
2. upGrad: Global Professional Education Leader
upGrad has distinguished itself by focusing exclusively on professional education for working adults rather than competing in crowded K-12 or test preparation segments. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Mumbai, the unicorn startup serves over one million learners globally through partnerships with prestigious universities including Liverpool Business School, IIIT Bangalore, IIM Kozhikode, Wharton School, and IIT Madras. The company provides accredited online degree programs and professional certifications in high-demand fields like data science, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and cybersecurity where employer demand substantially exceeds supply.
Operating a dual business-to-consumer and business-to-business model, upGrad generates revenue through student course fees and corporate training contracts, with international markets contributing twenty to twenty-five percent of total revenue in fiscal year 2025.
The company opened a Bangkok office in 2024 to support Southeast Asian expansion where countries like Thailand and Vietnam are rapidly digitalizing economies and governments are implementing massive reskilling initiatives. upGrad faces competition from global platforms including Coursera and Udacity, along with fellow Indian unicorn Eruditus, requiring continuous differentiation through superior localization, stronger employer partnerships, and comprehensive career support. The company has adopted artificial intelligence across its platform to create personalized curricula and enhance learning experiences, while identifying AI-focused upskilling as a massive growth opportunity given that four in five professionals want to learn more about using AI in their work.
3. Eruditus: Executive Education Specialist
Eruditus occupies a unique position focusing exclusively on executive education for senior working professionals, having achieved unicorn status in 2021 at a three point two billion dollar valuation following a six hundred fifty million dollar funding round. Founded by Ashwin Damera, the company partners with top global universities to deliver executive education programs, management and leadership courses, and specialized curricula in technology, data science, digital transformation, banking, and finance targeting mid-career and senior professionals willing to invest substantially in credentials and knowledge accelerating career advancement.
The company recently closed one hundred fifty million dollars in refinancing led by MARS Growth Capital, demonstrating continued investor confidence despite broader EdTech challenges. Eruditus acquired California-based iD Tech for approximately two hundred million dollars to enter K-12 coding education, marking its first significant move beyond core executive education.
The company faces direct competition from Emeritus, Coursera, and EdX, requiring differentiation through superior university partnerships, comprehensive student support, and stronger employer recognition of credentials. Founder Ashwin Damera emphasizes that investor sentiment has shifted toward companies exhibiting resilience and sustainable growth rather than chasing vanity metrics, with Eruditus identifying upskilling and reskilling as primary drivers of India’s EdTech landscape as artificial intelligence and machine learning continue disrupting industries and creating surging demand for highly skilled workforces.
4. Simplilearn: Digital Skills Training Platform
Simplilearn has established itself as a leading digital skills training platform with headquarters in Bangalore and San Francisco, serving over three million learners from more than one hundred fifty countries. Founded in 2010 with two hundred three point two million dollars in total funding, the company focuses on high-demand technical skills including data science, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, project management, digital marketing, and cybersecurity through partnerships with universities and industry organizations offering credentials recognized by employers.
The company has expanded aggressively into international markets including the United States, United Kingdom, and West Asia, with eleven percent of global users located in the UK and West Asia regions where government focus on building digitally skilled workforces creates substantial opportunities. Simplilearn launched over one hundred free generative AI courses responding to surging demand, reporting four hundred seventy percent enrollment growth in AI-related programs. The company employs a live-learning bootcamp model achieving eighty percent course completion rates by providing structured cohort-based learning with instructor interaction, peer collaboration, and scheduled milestones maintaining student engagement. Recent partnerships include launching a Senior Leadership Program with SP Jain School of Global Management, demonstrating ambitions to move upmarket into executive education.
5. Classplus: Educator Empowerment Platform
Classplus pursues a distinctive business-to-business-to-consumer strategy empowering individual educators and content creators to manage online classrooms and build branded applications rather than competing directly as a content provider. The platform provides complete technology infrastructure including app development, payment processing, student management systems, and content delivery, enabling educators to focus on teaching while handling all technical complexities. The educator base comes predominantly from Tier II cities where traditional EdTech companies have limited presence, demonstrating substantial demand for digital education tools beyond major metropolitan areas.
However, Classplus has faced challenges scaling its core software-as-a-service business model profitably, leading to pivots toward business-to-consumer offerings through acquisitions including Testbook, whose fiscal year 2024 revenue nearly doubled that of Classplus. The company also launched Polaris School of Technology in Bangalore offering offline four-year BTech courses, representing recognition that purely digital models face limitations and hybrid approaches combining online convenience with offline credential value deliver superior outcomes.
CEO Mukul Rustagi defends the strategic direction despite revenue challenges, noting that demand from teachers wanting to build digital presence remains strong. Looking forward, Classplus faces critical questions about whether to concentrate on its educator platform, embrace acquired test preparation business, or pursue offline higher education with limited resources making it difficult to excel across all directions simultaneously.
6. Teachmint: Smart Classroom Infrastructure Provider
Teachmint originally launched as a software-as-a-service platform helping educators conduct live classes online, raising nearly one hundred eighteen million dollars from investors including Lightspeed during the pandemic boom. However, the company has since pivoted dramatically toward selling integrated smart classroom products to educational institutions, recognizing that subscription software faces severe pricing pressure in the Indian market. The current strategy emphasizes providing complete hardware-software solutions helping schools save on expensive content subscriptions while simplifying classroom workflows through integrated systems combining displays, connectivity, content libraries, and management dashboards.
Operating revenue reached seventeen crore rupees in fiscal year 2024 from eight point one crore rupees previously, though the company remains deeply unprofitable with one hundred ten crore rupees in losses as it invests heavily in product development, sales teams, and market expansion. The smart classroom market represents a capital-intensive business requiring significant upfront hardware investments while competing against established vendors and traditional equipment suppliers. Teachmint’s pivot reflects broader challenges facing business-to-business EdTech platforms where schools and educators have extremely limited budgets for software subscriptions, preferring to invest in physical infrastructure and teacher salaries. Success requires building sophisticated supply chains, installation capabilities, and after-sales service networks that differ fundamentally from the software development competencies characterizing the original business model.
7. BrightCHAMPS: Kids’ Coding and Financial Literacy Platform
BrightCHAMPS has carved out a specialized niche teaching coding, financial literacy, and other twenty-first century skills to children, operating across more than thirty countries with significant presence in West Asia and Southeast Asia where nearly thirty percent of its global user base resides with month-on-month growth accelerating. The international focus from inception differentiates it from competitors that built India-focused businesses before attempting geographic expansion, recognizing that demand for kids’ coding education and financial literacy programs exists globally as parents worldwide seek to prepare children for technology-driven economies.
The company benefits from secular trends including growing parental recognition that coding represents foundational literacy for the digital age, increasing emphasis on financial education as research demonstrates childhood money management habits significantly impact adult financial wellness, and proliferation of devices enabling children to access online learning from home. BrightCHAMPS competes against established players, international coding platforms, and numerous smaller competitors, requiring continuous innovation in teaching methodologies and curriculum development. The kids’ EdTech segment presents unique challenges including parental concerns about screen time and online safety, need to maintain high engagement among young learners with limited attention spans, regulatory scrutiny around marketing to children, and seasonal enrollment patterns creating revenue variability.
8. Leverage Edu: Study Abroad Counseling Platform
Leverage Edu focuses on higher education counseling, helping Indian students navigate applying to universities abroad for undergraduate and graduate studies. Founded in 2017, the company provides end-to-end support including university selection, application assistance, standardized test preparation, visa guidance, scholarship identification, and pre-departure orientation preparing students for life overseas. This comprehensive service model addresses the reality that studying abroad represents one of the most significant financial and life decisions middle-class Indian families make, creating willingness to pay for expert guidance maximizing admission chances while minimizing application mistakes.
The study-abroad counseling market has experienced strong growth as Indian students increasingly seek international education perceived as offering superior quality, better career prospects, and global exposure despite substantially higher costs. Leverage Edu competes against established consultancies, university-affiliated recruitment agents, and technology-enabled platforms, requiring differentiation through superior counseling quality, higher admission success rates, and comprehensive student support. The business model generates revenue through counseling fees, university placement commissions, and potentially ancillary services including accommodation arrangement and education loans. The company has reportedly been considering initial public offering plans, reflecting confidence in sustainable business fundamentals. The study-abroad segment faces risks including potential government restrictions on foreign currency outflows, economic downturns reducing family affordability, and destination country policy changes restricting student visas.
9. Extramarks: Established K-12 Technology Provider
Extramarks represents one of India’s longest-operating EdTech companies, having launched in 2007 and successfully evolved through multiple technology cycles to remain competitive. The company provides comprehensive K-12 education solutions through its Learn-Practice-Test pedagogy combining video lessons, interactive exercises, assessments, and performance tracking across major Indian educational boards. Operating for nearly two decades positions Extramarks with substantial advantages including established school relationships, proven curriculum covering entire K-12 span, brand recognition, and operational learnings from serving millions of students across multiple market cycles.
The company recently launched Extra Intelligence, an AI-powered education suite representing recognition that artificial intelligence will increasingly differentiate successful EdTech companies by enabling personalized learning experiences, automated content creation, intelligent tutoring, and predictive analytics identifying struggling students before they fall seriously behind. Extramarks faces intensified competition from Physics Wallah offering dramatically lower pricing, venture-backed unicorns wielding superior marketing budgets, and free content available through YouTube reducing willingness to pay for structured curriculum. The company must continuously demonstrate value justifying subscription costs through measurable learning improvements, superior content quality, and convenience factors differentiating its offerings. Extramarks’s longevity proves that sustainable EdTech businesses can be built when companies maintain focus on genuine learning outcomes and avoid unsustainable growth strategies.
10. Propelld: Education Financing Innovator
Propelld addresses a critical bottleneck by providing collateral-free, flexible digital education loans enabling students to pursue higher education and professional courses they could not otherwise afford, particularly targeting students from Tier II and Tier III cities who struggle accessing traditional financing from banks requiring substantial collateral or credit histories many families lack. The ed-fin-tech platform combines education technology with financial services, recognizing that inability to pay represents one of the largest barriers to education access and removing this barrier creates enormous market opportunities while generating positive social impact.
The company offers Study Now Pay Later products allowing students to begin courses immediately while deferring payment through installment plans, addressing that upfront payment requirements prevent many capable students from enrolling despite strong career prospects justifying education investments. Propelld’s platform leverages highly digitized processes reducing operational costs compared to traditional lenders while enabling faster application processing.
The company uses alternative data sources and machine learning models to assess creditworthiness for students lacking traditional credit histories, potentially expanding access to populations banks systematically exclude while maintaining acceptable default rates through sophisticated risk modeling. The education financing market faces challenges including defaults when students fail to secure employment after course completion, economic downturns, and regulatory complexity, but offers substantial opportunities given India’s massive education sector and rising costs creating financing needs.
The Path Forward for Indian EdTech
The ten startups profiled illustrate how India’s EdTech sector has matured from pandemic-era hypergrowth characterized by aggressive expansion and spectacular failures toward a sustainable model emphasizing genuine learning outcomes, profitable unit economics, and measured geographic expansion. The survivors demonstrate clear strategic focus on specific segments, disciplined capital deployment, increasing use of artificial intelligence for personalized learning, and recognition that hybrid models combining online convenience with offline effectiveness often outperform purely digital approaches in the Indian context.
The funding environment remains challenging with 2025 experiencing a seventy-eight percent decline, forcing companies to prioritize profitability over user growth and focus on improving retention and monetization of existing customers. However, green shoots are emerging with first half 2025 funding growing five-fold compared to the same period in 2024, suggesting investors are regaining confidence after the BYJU’S debacle. The companies attracting capital demonstrate resilient business models, sustainable growth trajectories, clear paths to profitability, and genuine differentiation.
India’s EdTech sector will likely see significant merger and acquisition activity throughout 2026 as larger players acquire smaller competitors to enter new segments or consolidate fragmented markets. Industry observers expect five to ten EdTech companies to pursue initial public offerings over the next twelve to twenty-four months following Physics Wallah’s successful debut, potentially including upGrad, Eruditus, and Simplilearn that have demonstrated operational maturity making them suitable for public market scrutiny.
The future belongs to companies that successfully leverage artificial intelligence to deliver genuinely personalized learning experiences, maintain relentless focus on measurable learning outcomes rather than engagement metrics, operate with sustainable unit economics, serve specific segments with tailored solutions, and embrace hybrid models recognizing that technology amplifies rather than replaces human instruction. The massive education market opportunity remains unchanged with hundreds of millions of students requiring quality education, growing parental willingness to invest in children’s futures, and severe capacity constraints in traditional infrastructure creating space for technology-enabled alternatives. The EdTech companies that navigate these opportunities thoughtfully while avoiding predecessor mistakes will reshape Indian education while building valuable businesses improving learning outcomes for millions.
